Continuity and Change

The articles in this book were all commissioned exclusively for, and first published in, one of South Asia’s most prestigious social science journals, the Economic and Political Weekly. Bombay, in November 2002. The papers reproduced here are written by most of Pakistan’s best known social scientists, all of whom have selected a theme of their own choosing, which deals with some aspect of Pakistan’s social, political and institutional change and transition. There are, broadly, four main themes which constitute this collection. Of the thirteen articles in this book, three deal with issues of history. Partition and the history and politics of the nature of changing relations between India and Pakistan; two articles discuss the causes for the lack of democracy in Pakistan and a third examines the nature and significance of the election results of October 2002, two papers examine economic developments in recent years, with one looking at the relationship between the IMF, the World Bank and the Government of Pakistan, while the other examines the nature of Pakistan’s political economy of defence. The final five papers examine the nature of change in society and in institutions in the country, by looking at the changing relationship of Pakistan’s elite to the State; demographic, particularly urban change; examining the relationship between language and ideology; the meddling of international donors in ‘softer’ areas, like the legal system; and. with the role of the civil service in Pakistan.

Perhaps the single most important theme which runs through most of the papers, relates to the omnipresent and severely deleterious intrusive role of Pakistan’s military, which has been a constant hindrance to effective social change, democracy, development and to progress.

Contributors Hamza Alavi, Mubarak Ali, Reza Ali, Aly Ercelawn and M Nauman, Arif Hasan. Ayesha Jalal, Shahid Kardar, Shahrukh Rafi Khan, Tariq Rahman, Ayesha Siddiqa-Agha, Mohammad Waseem, and S Akbar Zaidi.

ISBN 969-8380-64-7